Authorities: 3 dead with gunshot wounds in rural Georgia

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FOLKSTON, Ga. —Authorities said Tuesday evening that they are investigating the shootings of two women and a 15-year-old boy found dead at a home in rural southeast Georgia as an apparent double homicide and suicide.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in an emailed statement that all three individuals had gunshot wounds and that an autopsy would be conducted Wednesday at the agency's crime lab in Savannah.

The dead were identified in the agency's statement as 39-year-old Kimberly Gayle Butts, 15-year-old Caleb Logan Butts and 64-year-old Jan Elizabeth Kirkland. Authorities didn't elaborate on the circumstances of their deaths and emphasized that the investigation was in the early phases.

Dispatcher Tina Myers at the Charlton County Sheriff's Office said investigators were sent to the small community of St. George. She said further information was being released by the GBI, the state's leading law enforcement agency.

WJAX-TV reported law enforcement vehicles had surrounded a home on a wooded lot near an unpaved road on Tuesday and that officers were seen later taking down crime scene tape and removing boxes from the house.

Charlton County Coroner Blaine Murray said he had no immediate comment when contacted Tuesday afternoon by The Associated Press.

Charlton County is located at the Georgia-Florida state line and includes eastern portions of the Okefenokee Swamp.